Awakening (6)
“Ugh…”
When I opened my eyes again, a musty stench of dust and stale sweat hit me. The dim ceiling loomed overhead, with only a faint sliver of light filtering through a small barred window in the corner. This place… a warehouse? Judging by the smell, probably the gym storage room.
“Ah, you’re awake?”
“Ugh… Eunbi?”
“Yep, I’m right here, oppa!”
Kang Eunbi grabbed my raised hand. Now that I looked, my hands and feet were all bound tight.
“Don’t worry anymore. It’s almost over.”
“What the hell is this about?”
“I had no choice. There were just too many interlopers getting in the way.”
“No choice my ass!! Untie me right now!”
“Don’t get mad! It’s all for you, oppa!”
For me? What the fuck did that even mean? My head was still foggy from just waking up, making it hard to piece things together. But from what I could gather, Eunbi had kidnapped me and locked me up.
“Eunbi. Can you explain in more detail?”
Eunbi let go of my fidgeting hand and scooted closer, then draped herself over my forcibly laid-down body.
“Eunbi?”
“Snuuuurf… haaah~ Oppa’s embrace is so warm. And you smell so good.”
“I’m starting to get scared here? Mind explaining something—anything?”
Eunbi, who’d been nuzzling her face into my chest with a relaxed expression, lifted her head.
“You explain first, oppa.”
Her face had flipped to ice-cold, the complete opposite of before. Goosebumps prickled across my skin in an instant. Those green eyes of hers… one of her colored contacts had slipped out. She’d said she’d hidden her real eyes since childhood because they were creepy… Had she been showing her true yandere eyes the whole time?
“You did something wrong too, you know.”
Eunbi replied coolly, unfazed. Me? Wrong her somehow?
“What was that bear costume I saw earlier?”
“…I did a quick side gig. Yeah, sorry. Shouldn’t have as committee head.”
“Oh~ So that was you getting paid to date that girl? And the SNS was just for managing clients?”
“…How much did you see!?”
I didn’t know about the rest, but her knowing about the SNS was a shock. Eunbi smirked at my fluster, then poked at my face like it was adorable.
“Did you think I wouldn’t know? Monitoring your boyfriend so he doesn’t cheat is a girlfriend’s duty, right?”
“There’s no such duty! That’s stalking!! And boyfriend? What the hell?”
“What else? We’re dating.”
“Since when?”
“……Huh? Why are you acting like you don’t know?”
She’d been spouting nonsense I couldn’t follow from the start.
“Remember the umbrella doodle on the blackboard?”
“…What about it?”
Was this because I’d comforted her when she got hurt over it?
“I was secretly doodling it in my delusion-fueled bliss, and that bitch Choi Gahee wiped it off without asking.”
“You drew that umbrella…?”
I was floored, words failing me. But this was just the beginning.
“Yeah, I forgot to erase it after committee the day before… Anyway, the next day I was lost in ecstasy staring at it, and she wipes it off on her own!! I was so upset… That’s why I ran away!”
Eunbi paused there, emotions surging. When she lifted her head, tears glistened in her eyes.
“I was so happy when you chased after me then. You said it was okay, that being with me didn’t bother you… You were the only one who ever said that to me. So you felt the same way, right?”
How had I responded back then…
—You hate me too, right oppa?
—What the hell?
—Come on. You saw that earlier for no reason. Being with me makes you uncomfortable.
—Sorry oppa, for sticking to your side for nothing—
—Don’t sweat it.
—Really?
—Yeah, why would I hate a hardworking, sweet junior over something that small?
No, fuck! How the hell did she twist that conversation into this!?
I wanted to scream my innocence, but Eunbi’s twisted logic rolled on.
“Saying it was okay even if misunderstood means it’s okay to date, right?”
“That’s your assumption. We’re not actually dating.”
I pushed back. Listening to that one line and deciding we were together was the crazy part, wasn’t it? But that logic only worked on sane people—Eunbi just tilted her head.
“Why not? Do you have to confess verbally to date? The rumors were already flying in committee that we were together, and we spent so much time walking around, sharing affection.”
“You’re driving me insane. You ask the other person’s feelings first!”
“You feel the same anyway! You keep saying that doesn’t matter!”
“How would you know my feelings?”
“Haaah~ Fine. If you insist, oppa, no helping it.”
Eunbi sighed deeply and got off me. She rummaged in her pocket, pulling out my phone, hers, and some weird device.
“I’ll record so you can’t get all tsun-tsun shy later. Okay?”
“Record?”
“Yeees… It’s embarrassing, but…”
Eunbi’s face flushed beet red as she glanced sideways at me, her eyes a mix of resentment and shame, like how could you make me do this.
“I’m confessing! Listen close, oppa!”
“Who said confess now? Untie me!”
I thrashed wildly. No use, of course.
“Oppa, I’ve… since I was little, I suffered a lot because everyone called me a genius, you know?”
Eunbi launched into her confession regardless.
“Dragged to America by Mom against my will… discriminated against for my race, ignored for being young, beaten by Mom when I didn’t want to solve problems… Everyone only cared that I was a genius, and when I didn’t perform, they showed their disappointment openly… It was so… so painful every day.”
“…That sucks.”
“That’s why I ran away to Korea in secret. Enrolled in this school on the sly… Dating someone was still so hard.”
Tears streamed down as she spoke. I felt sorry enough to want to wipe them away, but given what she’d done to me, I needed some distance first.
“But you were the first to treat me warmly. No discrimination for being near, no jealousy, praising me generously when I did well… That’s when I first felt love. Oppa…”
Kang Eunbi stared straight at me. Her once-deadly eyes now sparkled with vibrant life.
“I love you. With you, I won’t run anymore. Let’s… go to America together.”
She’d built the mood, then bam—America? What!?
“America?”
“Yes, oppa. You hate it here too, right? I know how those weird stalkers torment you. Choi Gahee, Lee Yuyeong, Min Iri. Those three are the ones harassing you, aren’t they?”
“………How do you even know about Iri noona!?”
“I recorded it. Heard all your blackmail call. You’ve been through hell, huh? Don’t worry. I’ll handle the lawsuits alone.”
“Lawsuits? Don’t. Please, I’m begging!”
“Still sympathizing? After all the gaslighting those bitches did… Even your drunk ramblings were because of their gaslighting. Snap out of it! You did nothing wrong!”
“How much did you hear!? What did you do to my phone?”
“Hehe, don’t be shy.”
“No!! Hacking’s a crime!! And America!! You’re planning to drag me there! Mmph—”
“Jeez…”
Eunbi, straddling me, stretched an arm to clamp my mouth.
“More importantly, you made a girl confess all embarrassed—you gotta answer. You will answer, right~?”
“Mmph… mmphmmph!!!”
“Yep, looks like you’re ready. Go on.”
“Haaah~ You’re unreal…”
“Answer.”
“…I”
*Smack*—Ah, shit. My first kiss, stolen.
“Kyahaha!! Oppa, no matter what, answering with a kiss is cheating!!”
Eunbi cupped her flushed cheeks, thrilled.
“What the hell!!”
“No way you’d refuse. Right, oppa? You accepted my confession. That’s how it is, yeah? It has to be.”
Now I couldn’t tell if she was talking to herself or ordering me.
“You’re not in your right mind right now, gaslit by those stalkers. I’ll save you. Once we’re in America getting treatment together, you’ll see your true feelings.”
Eunbi was completely broken. Her eyes clouded over again, seriously bad. Yandere Stage 2.
“What if I don’t wanna go to America?”
“Huh? You don’t want America?”
The air turned frigid. I half-expected her to choke me right then. Better not poke the bear?
“Then where do you wanna go? I’m a genius—tons of countries would take me. Russia? Canada? I’ll switch flights now.”
“No, it’s not about going abroad…”
“Tell me quick. The car’s coming to pick us up soon.”
Looked like she’d stashed me in the gym storage to keep me hidden till the car arrived. Time to play nice. No provoking. Convince her to stop without denying her outright.
“Not abroad… I wanna stay here in this town, this school, with you, Eunbi! We can date here!”
Eunbi grinned wickedly at that. Finally getting through?
“Oppa’s so naive~ Those stalkers here won’t leave you alone.”
Nope.
“I’ll handle them! I already sorted Gahee noona!”
“Gahee… noona?”
“Choi Gahee, yeah.”
“Hmmm…”
Eunbi seemed to mull it over. Almost there.
“Then should I handle the stalkers? I know some skilled pros. Even hired that foreigner you saw earlier.”
A chill froze my blood solid.
“N-No need for that!”
“Heehee, knew a good oppa like you’d say that. Guess we really gotta leave.”
“……”
“Wait just a sec then. Want some tea? Can’t sit you up, though.”
Kang Eunbi got off the makeshift bed and fiddled with a table. A laptop sat there amid weird gadgets. A radio among them crackled to life, someone speaking Italian—I couldn’t make it out.
“Haaah~ The stalkers finally caught on and are looking for us.”
“!!!”
The noonas were starting to search for me.